The field of the invention is that of apparatus:
used to cause walls of plastic, concrete-receiving forms to be vertical before and during the pouring of concrete slurry into the forms; and
used to provide a platform (scaffold) for a person to stand on safely while guiding the pouring of concrete slurry.
The plastic most used for such forms is expanded polystyrene and the plastic shall be so described although other types of plastic might be used.
The field of the invention also includes such apparatus that one person can erect and use to adjust walls of expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms so as to be vertical. The field of the invention further includes such apparatus that may readily be used with the expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms of any manufacturer.
A method of constructing high quality walls has become popular, especially in areas with cold Winters or hot Summers. This method uses a quantity of expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms to effect a wall into which is poured concrete slurry. The result is a solid wall with a concrete core and an expanded polystyrene, insulating outside. The resulting wall is strong, tends to have very little air or vermin intrusion, and provides excellent thermal insulation. The technique of using such forms and concrete is believed to be about fifty years old with at least a score of companies presently selling such forms in North America.
The expanded polystyrene, concrete-receiving forms (also herein, and in the industry, referred to as insulated or insulating concrete forms or ICFs) are most often cast using an air-entrapped plastic or foam such as expanded polystyrene, are light enough to be stacked as a wall with little effort, and include some type of keying so that adjacent forms partially fit, or lock, into each other. Voids are provided within the forms, communicating with each other, into which, in due course, concrete and reinforcing rods are placed. Imbedded near, or on, the outside surface of the forms are studs which are stiff strips of material into which one may attach cladding, or the like, using fasteners such as screws. The forms are stacked and locked to each other such that the studs are alined in a set of vertical columns with a fixed horizontal spacing between adjacent columns of studs that differs between manufactures of the forms.
Additional information about ICFs may be found in the Internet site of the Insulating Concrete Form Association at: http://www.forms.org/. Further information may be found in the commercial Internet site of: http://www.icfwveb.com/. A representative block ICF, appropriate for use with the present invention, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,933 (which is incorporated herewith by reference) and is sold by the Phil-Insul Corporation under the trade name of IntegraSpec. Further information about this ICF may be found in the Internet site of the Phil-Insul Corporation at: http://www.Phil-Insul-Corp.com.
An inherent problem with the use of ICFs is having a wall of ICFs be vertical both just before concrete is poured into the forms and while concrete is poured into the forms. The desirability of maintaining a vertical wall of forms is obvious. A well known part of the solution to the problem involves using a concrete slurry with an appropriate viscosity. Additionally, it is known to place a horizontally extending sequence of flat pieces of wood, or the like, against the wall of foam blocks vertically and to brace each vertical piece with a diagonal brace (called a xe2x80x9ckickerxe2x80x9d) that extends from the vertical piece to the floor or ground. For each such pair of vertical piece and kicker, one member of a crew monitors the plumb of the wall and communicates to a second member of the crew while that member of the crew adjusts the length of the kicker until the wall of blocks is about vertical near the relevant vertical piece. The success of this scheme depends on the stiffness of the vertical piece, the care taken by a two person crew, and the degree of adjustability of the length of the kicker. With the common kicker formed of overlapping boards that are nailed or clamped together, adjustability is limited.
The ReechCraft company might make a kicker that is adjustable in length. Their Panel Jack System appears to consist of an aluminum channel used as a vertical-member and a cylindrical brace-member described as being able to be adjusted in length with a xe2x80x9ctwist.xe2x80x9d It further appears that the channel vertical-member is screwed directly into the ICF wall""s studs and has no provision for accommodating to wall movement. Further information may be available in the Internet site of ReechCraft at http://www.reechcraft.com/paneljack/
The objectives of the present invention include a apparatus for causing a wall of ICFs blocks to be vertical and include:
1 an adjustable length vertical-member of ample stiffness while maintaining a weight such that one person may readily move the apparatus from place to place;
2 an adjustable length brace-member that needs no further adjustment once it is affixed to the floor or ground;
3 an adjustment scheme, usable by one person who is situated in a favorable position to determine the plumb of a wall of ICF blocks, to bring the wall into plumb without the need for any tools;
4 a scheme for temporarily attaching vertical-members to the studs in a wall of ICF blocks independently of the horizontal spacing of the studs and able to accommodate slight vertical movement of the ICFs; and
5 a bracket suspended from the vertical-member for implementing a safe scaffold for supporting the person adjusting the plumb of the wall of ICF blocks and for supporting the person guiding the filling of the forms with concrete;
The preferred embodiment of the present invention, as most likely seen by a user removing the invention from the bed of a pickup truck, is a nested set of three telescoping, square cross section metal tubes (forming the vertical-member) to which is pivotally attached the top brace-member (itself a square cross section tube) and a bundle of two more telescoping brace-members. The pivot extends from the side of the top vertical-member. Accompanying the two sets of pivotally connected telescoping tubes (one set forming a vertical-member and the other set forming a brace-member) are asymmetrical P-brackets (used to attach the vertical-members to the wall firmly; that is: with slight looseness), a platform-bracket (used to hold the platform and railing-post that constitutes the major parts of a scaffold), and a set of stout pins. The platform-bracket or the pins could be detachably attached to the members or loose.
The user will place the vertical members vertically against the ICF wall just to one side of a column of studs such that the pivot is directly in front of a column of studs. The user will extend the vertical members so that they reach from the floor or ground to a desired height and then place pins through pairs of vertical members (through cooperating holes provided for that purpose) so as to fix the height of the assembly. The foot of the bottom vertical-member is affixed to the ground or floor and the foot is capable of flexing. The setting of the height of the total vertical-member may be performed prior to placing the total vertical-member against the ICF wall. Both flanges of several vertically distributed P-brackets will be detachably attached to the studs while each P-bracket surrounds the vertical-members. The surrounding is such that the vertical member is held up while allowing for slight vertical movement of the wall of ICFs when the wall is made vertical (by the scheme shortly to be described) and when the concrete slurry is poured into the forms. This firm, but not solid, attachment to a wall of ICFs by the vertical member is an important feature of the present invention. The shorter flange of each P-bracket will be attached to, and aligned with, the column of studs that are directly behind the pivot. It is preferred that the shorter flange of each P-bracket be attached to a stud within four inches of the nearest side of the vertical member. This too is an important feature of the present invention as it causes the force produced in the brace member to react almost directly in line with a stud without producing significant torque. The longer flange of each P-bracket will be attached to studs in the adjacent column (an adjacent stud). This is possible, in spite of different manufacturers using different horizontal spacings between studs, because the longer flange has a series of spaced holes such that at least one set is able to reach any adjacent stud. This is an additional important feature of the present invention.
It is known to attach the vertical member to a wall in other ways. Attachment flanges could slide within grooves or slots. Attachment flanges could be afixed to the vertical member.
Once the vertical-members are detachably attached to the ICF wall, the brace-members are extended a convenient distance to the floor or ground at roughly 45 degrees. Pins are placed through pairs of brace-members (through cooperating holes provided for the purpose) so as to fix the length of the whole brace-member. Then the ground touching end of the brace is fixed to the ground with a stake or the like. While the acute angle between the vertical member and the attached brace member is preferably roughly 45 degrees, that acute angle may be less than ninety degrees and more than two degrees.
A scaffold is implemented after a number of pairs of vertical-members and brace-members have been mounted equally spaced horizontally along an ICF wall. A clevis attached to the top vertical-member supports a platform-bracket at an appropriate height. Strong plastic sheets are placed on top of adjacent platform-brackets to form a flat, horizontal platform. Wood planking, or the like, could also be used. The platform may be temporarily affixed to platform-brackets. The outside edge of the platform-brackets are fitted with a railing-post retainer into which a post is vertically retained and used to form a safety railing.
Once the set of vertical-members and the set of brace-members have been pinned together and attached appropriately to the floor or ground, and a scaffold implemented, it is time to use the device to plumb the ICF wall. Through the top vertical-member runs a lead screw from a crank at the top of the top vertical-member to the pivot with the top brace-member, so arranged that as the crank is turned the pivot is moved vertically either up or down. Clearly, as the pivot is moved vertically, the vertical-member will press more or less against the ICF wall and the vertical-member will be expected to tilt slightly. Plumbing the wall is a simple process that may, and can, be implemented by one person with ease and safety. The person doing the adjustment stands on the scaffold platform with a plumb-bob or bubble level in one hand that detects the plumb of the vertical-member, or wall, while the person rotates the crank with the other hand in the proper direction by the proper amount needed to effect perfect plumb of the ICF wall. Alternative means for detecting plumb include affixing a bubble level to each vertical-member or using a laser, or the like, to communicate the same information. If any sort of care was used to fit together the ICF wall, a little rotation of the crank is all that is required. The present invention provides a total of about ten inches of vertical adjustment of the pivot, which is more than ample. Unlike past schemes, the brace-members (which effectively implement a kicker) need not be touched once they are fixed to each other and to the ground or floor.
It is inherent in the present invention that one person may, with ease, erect multiple copies of the present invention and use the present invention to plumb the associated ICF wall. The asymmetrical design of the P-bracket is such that it, and thus the present invention, can be used with every known style of ICF block without needing any additional parts or tools. The inherent stiffness of the vertical-members insure that the wall as a whole will be plumb as a unit. To accommodate a need to adjust a tall wall, an optional bottom vertical-member may be used that is preferably six feet longer than the standard bottom vertical-member.